Here is something most IB Physics students never find out until it is too late:
Not all topics are examined equally.
Some topics appear in every paper, carry the most marks, and come up year after year. Others show up once, lightly, if at all. If you are revising everything with equal effort, you are working harder than you need to and probably still missing marks on the things that matter most.
This post gives you the full breakdown. What each paper looks like. What it is worth. Which topics to prioritise. And a simple revision cycle to make it all work together.
Study strategically. Know your papers. Know your topics. Know your plan.
How the IB Physics Exam Is Structured
There are three papers in total. You sit Paper 1A and Paper 1B together in one session, then Paper 2 separately.
Here is what each paper is worth.
Standard Level
| Paper | Content | Marks | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1A | 25 multiple choice questions | 25 | 20% |
| Paper 1B | Data-based questions | 20 | 16% |
| Paper 2 | Short answer and extended response | 55 | 44% |
| Scientific Investigation | IA report | 24 | 20% |
Higher Level
| Paper | Content | Marks | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1A | 40 multiple choice questions | 40 | 24% |
| Paper 1B | Data-based questions | 20 | 12% |
| Paper 2 | Short answer and extended response | 90 | 44% |
| Scientific Investigation | IA report | 24 | 20% |
Paper 2 dominates. At 44% of your final grade for both SL and HL, it is the single biggest lever you have. Everything in your revision strategy should be built around performing well in Paper 2, with Papers 1A and 1B as important supporting acts.
If you want to understand exactly what percentage you need across all these components to hit your target grade, the IB Physics grade boundaries guide has the full historical data and a free calculator.
Which Topics to Prioritise
Not all topics receive equal teaching time in the IB Physics syllabus, and teaching hours are the clearest signal we have of where exam marks will be concentrated.
Standard Level: Highest Priority Topics
These topics have been assigned the most teaching hours in the SL syllabus and should be the foundation of your revision:
- A.2 Forces and Momentum
- A.1 Kinematics
- A.3 Work, Energy and Power
- D.2 Electric and Magnetic Fields
- E.3 Radioactive Decay
Standard Level: Lower Priority Topics
These topics carry fewer marks and should be covered, but not at the expense of the list above:
- C.5 Doppler Effect
- C.1 Simple Harmonic Motion
- C.2 Wave Model
Higher Level: Highest Priority Topics
For HL students, the emphasis shifts slightly:
- D.2 Electric and Magnetic Fields
- D.1 Gravitational Fields
- E.3 Radioactive Decay
- C.3 Wave Phenomena
Higher Level: Lower Priority Topics
- C.2 Wave Model
- D.4 Induction
- C.4 Standing Waves and Resonance
- C.5 Doppler Effect
This does not mean you ignore the lower priority topics. It means you make sure you have genuinely understood and practised the high priority ones first. Most students do this the wrong way around. They revise what feels comfortable rather than what the exam tests most heavily.
For a complete, structured approach to revision that builds on this logic, the how to study IB Physics guide lays out the full system step by step.
Paper 1A: Multiple Choice
Paper 1A and 1B are sat together without a break. For Paper 1A, allocate your time carefully:
- SL: 25 questions, 50 minutes recommended (roughly 2 minutes per question)
- HL: 40 questions, 80 minutes recommended (roughly 2 minutes per question)
What to know about Paper 1A
It is harder than it looks. Around half of the questions require multiple steps, not just recall. Students often lose time trying to work through questions they do not know rather than moving on and returning later.
There is no penalty for incorrect answers. Attempt every question. If you are genuinely stuck, make your best educated guess and move on.
You have a calculator and a clean data booklet.
How to revise for Paper 1A
Prioritise the highest-weighted topics from the list above. Multiple choice questions test the same concepts repeatedly across sessions. Once you recognise the patterns, Paper 1A becomes one of the most predictable parts of the exam.
Paper 1B: Data-Based Questions
Paper 1B is sat immediately after Paper 1A, as part of the same session.
- Both SL and HL: 20 marks, 40 minutes recommended
- SL: worth 16% of your final grade
- HL: worth 12% of your final grade
What to know about Paper 1B
Paper 1B is genuinely more approachable than Papers 1A and 2. The questions are structured, the context is given to you, and the skills being tested are consistent from year to year. Students who prepare properly for Paper 1B can pick up marks here more reliably than almost anywhere else in the exam.
The questions test your ability to read, interpret and analyse data. They are not designed to catch you out on obscure content knowledge.
How to revise for Paper 1B
Learn these definitions until they are completely automatic:
- Accuracy and precision
- Random error and systematic error
- Absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainty
- Fundamental and derived units
Then work through a bank of past Paper 1B questions. The pattern of these questions is highly consistent. A couple of hours of focused practice will make an immediate difference to your confidence and your score.
Paper 2: Short Answer and Extended Response
Paper 2 is where the exam is won or lost.
- SL: 1 hour 30 minutes, 55 marks, 44% of your final grade
- HL: 2 hours 30 minutes, 90 marks, 44% of your final grade
It is designed to be difficult and most students will not finish it. That is expected and it is factored into the grade boundaries. The average boundary for a 7 in Paper 2 HL has historically been around 59%, and around 63% for SL. You do not need to answer everything perfectly.
How to revise for Paper 2
Start with the highest-priority topics and practise full exam-style questions for each one, not just reading notes. The difference between a student who scores a 5 and one who scores a 7 is almost always exam technique, not content knowledge.
A few things that consistently lose marks in Paper 2:
- Misreading the command term (writing a description when the question asks you to “explain”, or vice versa)
- Forgetting units on calculated answers
- Not reading graph axis labels carefully (watch for mA instead of A, or cm instead of m)
- Skipping a question entirely instead of attempting it for partial credit
If you are stuck on a graph question, you almost certainly need to calculate the gradient or the area under the line. That is the most common graph task in Paper 2 and it appears constantly.
The Revision Cycle That Actually Works
All of this comes together into a single repeating loop.
- Complete a timed past paper for each of Paper 1A, 1B and Paper 2
- Mark it using the official mark scheme
- Calculate your weighted percentage and check it against the grade boundaries to see where you stand
- Identify your weakest topics and your most common technique errors
- Spend your next two or three study sessions focused only on those weaknesses
- Repeat
This cycle works because it is evidence-based. Every session targets the specific gaps in your performance rather than topics you already know. Students who do this consistently across the final weeks before exams see the biggest grade jumps.
For the complete system behind this approach, including how to build your revision notes and how to use past papers by topic, read how to study IB Physics.
The Exam Pack gives you everything you need to run this cycle properly: topic-by-topic past paper questions sorted by syllabus section, full mark schemes, a mock exam, and a revision note template for every topic.
Get the GradePod Exam Pack for £39 →
Written by Sally Weatherly, IB Physics teacher since 2004, Fellow of the Institute of Physics, and founder of GradePod. I help students work smarter, not harder.